More on the Pakistan/North Korean nuclear connection:
A new classified intelligence report presented to the White House last week detailed for the first time the extent to which Pakistan’s Khan Research Laboratories provided North Korea with all the equipment and technology it needed to produce uranium-based nuclear weapons, according to American and Asian officials who have been briefed on its conclusions.
The assessment, by the Central Intelligence Agency, confirms the Bush administration’s fears about the accelerated nature of North Korea’s secret uranium weapons program, which some intelligence officials believe could produce a weapon as early as sometime next year. The assessment is based in part on Pakistan’s accounts of its interrogations of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the developer of Pakistan’s bomb, who was pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf in January.
The report concluded that North Korea probably received a package very similar to the kind the Khan network sold to Libya for more than $60 million � including nuclear fuel, centrifuges and one or more warhead designs.
For a president who pontificates in simplistic, good versus evil platitudes, the leeway granted Pakistan provides quite a conundrum:
The unusual American reluctance to share its full intelligence findings [with Asian allies] has led several senior Asian officials, in interviews in recent weeks, to speculate that the assessment is particularly sensitive because the lengthy timeline of transfers it describes inevitably leads to the conclusion that the Pakistani military was a major partner with Mr. Khan.
. . .
The issue is particularly sensitive for Mr. Bush and Mr. Musharraf. Despite the mounting evidence, the White House has decided not to challenge Mr. Musharraf’s contention that the Pakistani military was never involved in nuclear transfers to North Korea, and that he was never personally aware of them.
Although Mr. Bush has vowed to pursue and prosecute those who spread nuclear weapons technology, the administration did not criticize Mr. Musharraf when he decided to pardon Mr. Khan, who ran what now appears to be one of the largest nuclear proliferation networks in the past half-century.
Funny how things work in Washington. We have an administration who repeatedly trumpets Saddam’s use of chemical weapons over 15 years ago. Yet they say almost nothing about Pakistan’s involvement in helping establish a North Korean nuclear shop, perhaps as recently as two years ago. Mind boggling.
Finally, here’s an interesting peek at how this White House operates:
The C.I.A.’s conclusions about North Korea’s uranium were presented to senior White House officials, including the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, in a series of briefings on March 4 and 5. That followed an inconclusive second round of negotiations involving the United States, North Korea, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia that produced agreements to hold more meetings but no commitment by North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program.
It is unclear whether President Bush, who has been deeply involved setting the strategy concerning North Korea but rarely discusses the issue in public, has yet personally received the new assessment.
Unclear whether Bush has heard the assessment? Hmmm. In all fairness to Bush, he has had a full slate of rodeos, NASCAR races, and fund raisers over the past few weeks. I’m sure he’ll get to it when he can.
